Inside the Rivalry: Gym Dogs vs. Auburn
January 29, 2010 | Gymnastics
By Kevin Copp
Given all the history and drama of the Gym Dogs' last two road contests – against four-time NCAA Champion Alabama and nine-time NCAA Champion Utah – it would be easy to overlook the last leg of this three-meet road stretch as No. 8 Georgia visits No. 15 Auburn.
It would be especially easy if one considers the all-time record between these two programs, where the Gym Dogs hold a 64-0 advantage.
There are an astounding 49 schools against which Georgia has never lost, but Auburn and Kentucky are the most victimized on that list, as the Gym Dogs have not lost to either school in 64 chances apiece. Georgia will get a chance to improve to 65-0 against the Wildcats next weekend in Athens.
The all-time record is not a statistic that head coach Jay Clark is avoiding in talking to his team in practice before the Auburn meet; it's one that he was unaware of entering this week.
"To be honest, I didn't even realize it was the case until I saw it on [georgiadogs.com]," Clark said. "That was my first awareness that Auburn had never beaten Georgia, so it's not something that we've ever discussed. If we get hung up on something like an all-time record, we don't have our mind in the right place."
Senior Lauren Sessler, a Snellville native familiar with the significance of the Georgia-Auburn rivalry across all sports, admitted that she had no knowledge of the record either.
"I don't think we focus on, ‘Oh my gosh, we've never lost to them' because that just adds pressure to us," Sessler said.
The streak dates back to Georgia's first-ever intercollegiate meet in 1981, as the Gym Dogs under head coach Rick Walton defeated the Tigers 121.70-117.50.
In Suzanne Yoculan's first season at the helm in 1984, Georgia beat Auburn by an astounding 22.85 points, 184.85-162.00, which remains the largest margin of victory in the series.
Since that point in time, the Tigers have steadily closed the gap on the Gym Dogs, with the closest meet coming in 2006 in Auburn. The Gym Dogs built a sizeable lead but fell three times on balance beam to make the final margin of victory only four tenths of a point, 196.55 - 196.15.
"Every year is different, and every team is different, and Auburn has been an up and coming program for several years," Clark said. "We certainly know that they're capable of beating anybody on a given day."
That statement has become increasingly true in the last couple of years. Auburn is 0-3 this season, but two of their losses are at the hands of the top two teams in the nation (Alabama and Oklahoma). In both of those contests, the Tigers registered higher point totals than the Gym Dogs' 195.150 total in their season-opening victory over Stanford.
In 2009, Auburn achieved the highest ranking in program history when they ascended to the No. 5 spot in the polls before falling to then-No. 3 Georgia 197.250-195.925. Despite that setback, the Tigers finished conference action at 3-3, ahead of 2009 SEC Champion Alabama in the regular season standings.
"It's good for the conference when everybody is doing well," Clark said. "It's no longer just the Georgia-Alabama show in the SEC. Now Auburn has put themselves in the conversation for making Nationals on a yearly basis. They've had some mishaps at NCAA Regionals in the last two years, but otherwise, we could have had six teams from the [SEC] at Nationals in the last two years."
In addition to its perfect mark against the Tigers, the Gym Dogs have never lost inside Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum, as Georgia captured the 1994 SEC Championship and 2005 NCAA Championship in the building, which they will be visiting for the last time in 2010.
The 2005 title, the first of five consecutive championships Georgia has won entering this season, was probably the most unlikely championship in Gym Dogs history. Georgia entered the 12-team National Championship is the No. 12 seed and avoided the longest championship drought in program history (seven years) by posting their highest score all season to win the title.
"That is a good memory, certainly," Clark said of the 2005 NCAA Championship. "That is probably the nearest and dearest to my heart in the way that all came about, with a freshman-laden team that, in a lot of ways, exhibited some similarities to what this team is going through."
That 2005 team suffered through a four-meet losing streak – the longest of Suzanne Yoculan's career – that puts the Gym Dogs' early season struggles in 2010 in perspective.
"There's still that drive to beat them," said Sessler. "We have to get after it. We can't go home with a loss."
Georgia tries to avoid a three-meet skid and keep their spotless series record against the Tigers intact at 8:00 p.m. ET Friday. Check out georgiadogs.com for Meet Central presented by Athens Regional Medical Center for live scoring and video updates throughout the night.
Kevin Copp is the host of the Georgia Gym Dogs Show, which airs on georgiadogs.com, and the play-by-play broadcaster for Georgia gymnastics, soccer, volleyball, and softball.
Given all the history and drama of the Gym Dogs' last two road contests – against four-time NCAA Champion Alabama and nine-time NCAA Champion Utah – it would be easy to overlook the last leg of this three-meet road stretch as No. 8 Georgia visits No. 15 Auburn.
It would be especially easy if one considers the all-time record between these two programs, where the Gym Dogs hold a 64-0 advantage.
There are an astounding 49 schools against which Georgia has never lost, but Auburn and Kentucky are the most victimized on that list, as the Gym Dogs have not lost to either school in 64 chances apiece. Georgia will get a chance to improve to 65-0 against the Wildcats next weekend in Athens.
The all-time record is not a statistic that head coach Jay Clark is avoiding in talking to his team in practice before the Auburn meet; it's one that he was unaware of entering this week.
"To be honest, I didn't even realize it was the case until I saw it on [georgiadogs.com]," Clark said. "That was my first awareness that Auburn had never beaten Georgia, so it's not something that we've ever discussed. If we get hung up on something like an all-time record, we don't have our mind in the right place."
Senior Lauren Sessler, a Snellville native familiar with the significance of the Georgia-Auburn rivalry across all sports, admitted that she had no knowledge of the record either.
"I don't think we focus on, ‘Oh my gosh, we've never lost to them' because that just adds pressure to us," Sessler said.
The streak dates back to Georgia's first-ever intercollegiate meet in 1981, as the Gym Dogs under head coach Rick Walton defeated the Tigers 121.70-117.50.
In Suzanne Yoculan's first season at the helm in 1984, Georgia beat Auburn by an astounding 22.85 points, 184.85-162.00, which remains the largest margin of victory in the series.
Since that point in time, the Tigers have steadily closed the gap on the Gym Dogs, with the closest meet coming in 2006 in Auburn. The Gym Dogs built a sizeable lead but fell three times on balance beam to make the final margin of victory only four tenths of a point, 196.55 - 196.15.
"Every year is different, and every team is different, and Auburn has been an up and coming program for several years," Clark said. "We certainly know that they're capable of beating anybody on a given day."
That statement has become increasingly true in the last couple of years. Auburn is 0-3 this season, but two of their losses are at the hands of the top two teams in the nation (Alabama and Oklahoma). In both of those contests, the Tigers registered higher point totals than the Gym Dogs' 195.150 total in their season-opening victory over Stanford.
In 2009, Auburn achieved the highest ranking in program history when they ascended to the No. 5 spot in the polls before falling to then-No. 3 Georgia 197.250-195.925. Despite that setback, the Tigers finished conference action at 3-3, ahead of 2009 SEC Champion Alabama in the regular season standings.
"It's good for the conference when everybody is doing well," Clark said. "It's no longer just the Georgia-Alabama show in the SEC. Now Auburn has put themselves in the conversation for making Nationals on a yearly basis. They've had some mishaps at NCAA Regionals in the last two years, but otherwise, we could have had six teams from the [SEC] at Nationals in the last two years."
In addition to its perfect mark against the Tigers, the Gym Dogs have never lost inside Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum, as Georgia captured the 1994 SEC Championship and 2005 NCAA Championship in the building, which they will be visiting for the last time in 2010.
The 2005 title, the first of five consecutive championships Georgia has won entering this season, was probably the most unlikely championship in Gym Dogs history. Georgia entered the 12-team National Championship is the No. 12 seed and avoided the longest championship drought in program history (seven years) by posting their highest score all season to win the title.
"That is a good memory, certainly," Clark said of the 2005 NCAA Championship. "That is probably the nearest and dearest to my heart in the way that all came about, with a freshman-laden team that, in a lot of ways, exhibited some similarities to what this team is going through."
That 2005 team suffered through a four-meet losing streak – the longest of Suzanne Yoculan's career – that puts the Gym Dogs' early season struggles in 2010 in perspective.
"There's still that drive to beat them," said Sessler. "We have to get after it. We can't go home with a loss."
Georgia tries to avoid a three-meet skid and keep their spotless series record against the Tigers intact at 8:00 p.m. ET Friday. Check out georgiadogs.com for Meet Central presented by Athens Regional Medical Center for live scoring and video updates throughout the night.
Kevin Copp is the host of the Georgia Gym Dogs Show, which airs on georgiadogs.com, and the play-by-play broadcaster for Georgia gymnastics, soccer, volleyball, and softball.
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